Showing posts with label eggs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eggs. Show all posts
Monday, January 23, 2012
Esme the Australian Sugar Ant has larvae (Camponotus Consobrinus)
After a weekend away, it was nice to come home to see that my Camponotus Consobrinus queens both now have larvae! I still think Esme has less eggs/larvae than she did though? She was testing the fruit juice I gave her this morning so took a couple of photos.
Aggie's Ant Family
Aggie (Nylanderia queen?)and her colony are still happily residing under the mouldy cotton wool ball... The colony seems to be increasing in size too - I don't like to bother them though so I cant be too sure of numbers. Today I put a small piece of banana and meal worm in their outworld and within one minute workers came to check it out. Here is the first lucky (hungry) worker.
Betsy's Ant Family
I haven't seen Betsy (Nylanderia queen, we think) since she moved into the ant farm on December 28 last year, but her little colony seems to be going very well! They have made several tunnels and eat lots of things, but mealworms are their favourite. There are lots of eggs and larvae hidden in the corner near where I let them in originally. It was hard to get a photo, but here is the best one I could get today.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Ants update!
I haven't updated for a while because nobody has been doing anything much!
When cleaning/feeding/watering Esme and Darlene (Banded Sugar Ants or Camponotus Consobrinus) I noticed that Esme seems to have less eggs than before? She's the stressy one, so perhaps that's it? Also her gaster (butt) is smaller than Darlene's. They are both refusing any foods except for honey water or fruit juice. Here's a couple of pics for comparing the two of them.
Darlene (big butt)
Esme the stress head (small butt)
And one of Esme and her eggs
Today when cleaning one of Betsy's (Nylanderia) workers escaped. I caught it and put it back in the formicarium (ant farm). Anyway a minute or so later I noticed another worker walking around the outside and caught it and put it back in. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure that it was Betsy's worker after all! It seemed to be really exploring like it had never been there before! oops.
When cleaning/feeding/watering Esme and Darlene (Banded Sugar Ants or Camponotus Consobrinus) I noticed that Esme seems to have less eggs than before? She's the stressy one, so perhaps that's it? Also her gaster (butt) is smaller than Darlene's. They are both refusing any foods except for honey water or fruit juice. Here's a couple of pics for comparing the two of them.
Darlene (big butt)
Esme the stress head (small butt)
And one of Esme and her eggs
Today when cleaning one of Betsy's (Nylanderia) workers escaped. I caught it and put it back in the formicarium (ant farm). Anyway a minute or so later I noticed another worker walking around the outside and caught it and put it back in. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure that it was Betsy's worker after all! It seemed to be really exploring like it had never been there before! oops.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Esme (Camponotus consobrinus queen) lays an egg
This is the second egg I've seen Esme lay. I disturbed her by bumping her jar with my camera, so she uncurled before she was finished. When I saw her the first time a couple of days ago she stayed curled up and it looked like she helped the egg out with her mandibles.
Here you can just see the egg appearing.
Turning around to pick up the egg.
Putting the new egg with the others.
All done! (for now...)
Here you can just see the egg appearing.
Turning around to pick up the egg.
Putting the new egg with the others.
All done! (for now...)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Esme is in the family way too :-)
Last night Esme was very actively trying to hide her meal worm segment away and seemed very agitated. It was obvious why this morning. Two lovely eggs and a hidden meal worm = a happy, calmer Esme!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Things are changing...
I tried to get Charlene (aka The ant formerly known as C - still don't know what species she might be?) to move home yesterday, but she appears to be more than comfortable in her specimen jar.
Some photos of Charlene and her eggs and the outworld she could call home if she wanted...
Some photos of Charlene and her eggs and the outworld she could call home if she wanted...
Darlene is going to be a Mummy!
Darlene (aka The sugar ant formerly known as D) has 3 lovely looking eggs this afternoon! They weren't there this morning, so it looks like she got busy while we were out :-) They eggs are enormous compared to the other queens' eggs. Of course it's not really surprising considering how big she is!
I gave her some mealworm yesterday, but she seems to have been rather offended by it and hidden it behind her cotton wool ball!
Some pictures for you - ain't she pretty?
I gave her some mealworm yesterday, but she seems to have been rather offended by it and hidden it behind her cotton wool ball!
Some pictures for you - ain't she pretty?
Where did Aggie go?
29/12/2011
I had a look with a torch to see if I could see inside Aggie's (aka The ant formerly known as A) red test tube and found that she and her family had moved out! As I couldn't see them anywhere I had a small poke around and found them hiding out under the damp cotton ball in the outworld I'd made for them. The photos aren't much good, but it will give you an idea of where they are now. It looks like there are at least 5 or 6 workers with her now too :-)
I put a little bit of chopped up mealworm in there for them to eat. They didn't seem interested though, but I might have just missed seeing them eat..
The outworld.
The hidey hole.
I had a look with a torch to see if I could see inside Aggie's (aka The ant formerly known as A) red test tube and found that she and her family had moved out! As I couldn't see them anywhere I had a small poke around and found them hiding out under the damp cotton ball in the outworld I'd made for them. The photos aren't much good, but it will give you an idea of where they are now. It looks like there are at least 5 or 6 workers with her now too :-)
I put a little bit of chopped up mealworm in there for them to eat. They didn't seem interested though, but I might have just missed seeing them eat..
The outworld.
The hidey hole.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
It's moving day :-)
Seeing as though B has at least 10 very active workers I decided to let them out into a new home this morning. They were a little unsure at first, but within the hour had ventured into their new home. The most amazing thing was that once they were sure, they were very quick to move the eggs, larvae and pupae over to their new home! It was amazing to watch. The queen decided to move about 3/4 of the way through the move, so awesome :-)I hope the ant farm will be okay for them, it's filled with sand and dirt (washed and dried a few weeks ago) from our garden. I took heaps of photos with our little old camera - some are a bit rough because they moved so quickly!
This photo is of the first brave worker to venture near the opening of the ant farm!
This worker is carrying a bunch of eggs and larvae to their new home.
The same worker on the inside of the farm.
Another worker carrying a pupae.
The queen on the move!
The last of the larvae, about to be moved.
This photo is of the first brave worker to venture near the opening of the ant farm!
This worker is carrying a bunch of eggs and larvae to their new home.
The same worker on the inside of the farm.
Another worker carrying a pupae.
The queen on the move!
The last of the larvae, about to be moved.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Exciting!
Two cool things today!
Firstly, A has a worker or two with her in her test tube! And secondly I picked up B in her jar, and the workers went nuts - I think they felt threatened? Anyway, when they go nuts they move larvae, eggs and pupae from where they normally are to they other side of the cotton ball, really quickly. I noticed they moved a pupae and sort of nibbled and pulled at it's cocoon and after about 20 minutes it was completely free and walking around! How awesome is that?! It would be much clearer with a better camera, but I tried to catch most of the action (missed the first couple of minutes though). Lots of photos :-)
Firstly, A has a worker or two with her in her test tube! And secondly I picked up B in her jar, and the workers went nuts - I think they felt threatened? Anyway, when they go nuts they move larvae, eggs and pupae from where they normally are to they other side of the cotton ball, really quickly. I noticed they moved a pupae and sort of nibbled and pulled at it's cocoon and after about 20 minutes it was completely free and walking around! How awesome is that?! It would be much clearer with a better camera, but I tried to catch most of the action (missed the first couple of minutes though). Lots of photos :-)
Monday, December 19, 2011
And then there were five.
2 new workers for B today (up to 5 now). They have all moved back out from under the cotton wool ball and I think they are no longer freaked out by the blowfly, perhaps even eating it.
A is still carrying her larvae around, but there don't appear to be any pupae or workers for her yet - I suppose B fed her larvae on the bugs I put in her container and they grew quicker? Seeing as though they both had eggs/larvae on the same day, this seems to be the logical explanation..
The new queen has been carrying around about 6 eggs today. She is still quite jumpy/timid and doesn't like me moving her at all.
A is still carrying her larvae around, but there don't appear to be any pupae or workers for her yet - I suppose B fed her larvae on the bugs I put in her container and they grew quicker? Seeing as though they both had eggs/larvae on the same day, this seems to be the logical explanation..
The new queen has been carrying around about 6 eggs today. She is still quite jumpy/timid and doesn't like me moving her at all.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Catching up on my ant adventures!
Seeing as though I'm beginning to have trouble remembering all of the dates, I figured it was blog time!
08/10/11
I went outside with the kids (lovely sunny and warm day, and had been raining a bit over the previous week or two) and was very excited to find ants on their nuptial flights(last year my daughter and I were looking for queens everywhere, but had no luck). I captured two queens, one with wings and was still attached to her mate (A), and another wingless queen (B), unsure if she has mated. I put both queens into a small plastic container with a tiny drop of honey and a damp cotton wool ball.
10/10/11
A: Moved to a test tube with damp cotton wool ball in the end. Queens wings gone, male (winged) still alive but not overly active.
B: Not much changed.
17/10/11
Excited! Both A and B have started to lay eggs!! Male still alive with A. No one seems to be remotely interested in eating honey droplets.
24/10/11
Photo time :-) First photo is of A, her eggs and her male which still has wings attached. Second photo is of B and her eggs.
12/11/11
A: Male died today. I'm surprised it took so long, as I'd heard they died pretty much straight away after mating. Eggs seem to be increasing in number.
B: More eggs still appearing :-)
Neither seem to be interested in eating still. I'm assuming they are a claustral species, which means that they seal themselves off with their first batch of eggs and don't eat, surviving only on energy stores and the breaking down of their flight muscles as after they remove their wings and no longer need muscles in that area.
13/11/11
I made an 'outworld' for one of my ants (A) today. It was a cheap plastic container with a lid, I melted small air holes with a hot needle in the lid and made a bigger hole for plastic tubing so I could join it to an upright ant farm. I filled the base of it with some sand, dirt, gravel, dried grass, a wet cotton wool ball and a couple of rocks. I covered A's test tube with red cellophane and removed the cotton wool from the end of A's test tube and put it in the outworld. She got very busy moving dirt etc from the outworld to block off the end of the test tube, which pretty much confirms she is from a claustral species.
I've left B and her eggs in the plastic container as I'm interested to see if there will be a difference in the rate of growth etc based on the environment.
14/11/11
More photos :-)
The first photo is of B and her eggs, second is of A filling her test tube with dirt and gravel from her outworld and the third is of what the outworld looks like and also B in her container.
08/10/11
I went outside with the kids (lovely sunny and warm day, and had been raining a bit over the previous week or two) and was very excited to find ants on their nuptial flights(last year my daughter and I were looking for queens everywhere, but had no luck). I captured two queens, one with wings and was still attached to her mate (A), and another wingless queen (B), unsure if she has mated. I put both queens into a small plastic container with a tiny drop of honey and a damp cotton wool ball.
10/10/11
A: Moved to a test tube with damp cotton wool ball in the end. Queens wings gone, male (winged) still alive but not overly active.
B: Not much changed.
17/10/11
Excited! Both A and B have started to lay eggs!! Male still alive with A. No one seems to be remotely interested in eating honey droplets.
24/10/11
Photo time :-) First photo is of A, her eggs and her male which still has wings attached. Second photo is of B and her eggs.
12/11/11
A: Male died today. I'm surprised it took so long, as I'd heard they died pretty much straight away after mating. Eggs seem to be increasing in number.
B: More eggs still appearing :-)
Neither seem to be interested in eating still. I'm assuming they are a claustral species, which means that they seal themselves off with their first batch of eggs and don't eat, surviving only on energy stores and the breaking down of their flight muscles as after they remove their wings and no longer need muscles in that area.
13/11/11
I made an 'outworld' for one of my ants (A) today. It was a cheap plastic container with a lid, I melted small air holes with a hot needle in the lid and made a bigger hole for plastic tubing so I could join it to an upright ant farm. I filled the base of it with some sand, dirt, gravel, dried grass, a wet cotton wool ball and a couple of rocks. I covered A's test tube with red cellophane and removed the cotton wool from the end of A's test tube and put it in the outworld. She got very busy moving dirt etc from the outworld to block off the end of the test tube, which pretty much confirms she is from a claustral species.
I've left B and her eggs in the plastic container as I'm interested to see if there will be a difference in the rate of growth etc based on the environment.
14/11/11
More photos :-)
The first photo is of B and her eggs, second is of A filling her test tube with dirt and gravel from her outworld and the third is of what the outworld looks like and also B in her container.
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